The Oklahoma City Thunder ended their night in Minnesota with a loss to the Timberwolves, but they were never supposed to be there. This game was the second game in the Thunder’s postseason run in the play-in tournament. The Thunder played a thriller in New Orleans where they upset the nine-seeded Pelicans. Despite the disappointment of not making it to a full playoff series, Oklahoma City may have shaved two years off their original rebuild plans. Before the ball was ever tipped, the odds were against them as experts picked the Thunder to only win around 20 games. The Thunder doubled this total by winning 40 games and having their best season since 2019. Another setback was losing rookie superstar Chet Holmgren with a foot injury suffered in a Pro-Am game. A large part of the squad’s success was the play of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. This season, Shai turned from rising star, to arguably a top 10 player in the league and finished second in the most improved player award race. He would average 31.4 points a game while posting a 51% field goal percentage. Another welcome surprise was the play of rookie Jalen Williams. He also finished second for an award, which was the rookie of the year award. He was the Thunder’s second leading scorer this season and provided a great source of energy to draw the attention off of Shai. Finally, credit should be dealt to head coach Mark Daigneault, who finished second in the Coach of the Year race, for being able to maximize each of the young stars that the Thunder possesses. Long story short, the Thunder may have the brightest future of any team in the league and the 2022-23 put the league on notice
